


Strength to Hold and Not Succumb

by OldEmeraldEye



Series: Deal With A Witch AU [2]
Category: Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Era: Reign of Elizabeth III of Manticore, Gen, The Price of Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:20:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22183960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldEmeraldEye/pseuds/OldEmeraldEye
Summary: Temptation, thy name is ease and utility. (And ignorance of consequence.)
Series: Deal With A Witch AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1567516
Kudos: 10





	Strength to Hold and Not Succumb

The thing about having access to magic is the temptation to do something with it. (In fact, it bears a remarkable similarity to treatise on absolute power. A power everyone knows the Winton's have never, and will never possess. That’s the thing about facts that everyone knows.)

And Beth _is_ tempted. Horribly, at times, and at others because it would be so much easier than holding onto her own temper by sheer force of will. As is the case when her son is born, and sooner than that, when his existence is revealed – oh, not universally negative, in fact the reception is rather positive, but there are those who will have their opinions, common courtesies be damned – and periodically when the call goes out for her to find a consort. All with the best of intentions, of course.

She does not succumb. Ellen gets a workout, when it is feasible; her aunt is driven to near distraction, and the budget for massages and other cravings doubles for the duration, but she does not succumb. To any of her desires.

(A side effect of her displacement: she gains a reputation as a patron of the smaller confectionery producers in Landing to match her father's championship of the navy. It was not her intention, but once gained she finds no fault in it. It is part of the Monarchs duty to support her subjects businesses, after all. Even if it is a less fearsome reputation, she is a young Queen yet. And her subjects _love_ her.)

She knows consequences too well now for that. She wonders if she would make the same deal again. If anything less would have sufficed. If magic could change the past. She wonders how high the price for that would be.

And sometimes, when more pessimistic reports are heard week by week, she wonders if she had asked for enough.


End file.
